Kalamazoo area ski resorts optimistic about turnout this week

Tyler Tjomsland / Special to the GazetteChristopher Gottwald, of Kalamazoo, teaches his daughter Pazen, 3, the basics of skiing Friday at the Timber Ridge Ski Area, in Gobles.
Storm system could hit area by Christmas, says Weather Service

KALAMAZOO — Light snow blanketed the area Saturday, and it appears the region will have a pleasantly white Christmas and nearly ideal skiing and snowboarding conditions for the week.

Area police departments said there were a few minor accidents early Saturday, but roads cleared by the afternoon.

Resort hours, snow conditions

Bittersweet is open from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. today, and Timber Ridge from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. today. For daily updates on skiing conditions, contact Bittersweet at (269) 694-2032 ext. 23 or www.skibittersweet.com, and Timber Ridge at (269) 694-9449 or www.timberridgeski.com.

Bittersweet Ski Resort General Manager Victor Gayheart said all 20 runs were open Saturday, and there was a base of about 28 inches, with an inch of fresh snow. He said there was “a really good crowd” of about 1,200 people at the Otsego ski resort Saturday. Traffic tends to pick up after Christmas, he said.

With a few more inches of snow expected to fall throughout the week, there could be a big turnout next Saturday, Gearhart said. Typically the day after Christmas is one of the busiest days of the season, he said. Gayheart said he expected about 2,500 skiers Saturday and about twice that number during the entire week leading up to Christmas.

“It’s awesome. The weather is going to cooperate for once,” he said. “It looks like we’ll have a white Christmas and a white weekend. We’ll take it.”

Joan Bailey, marketing director for Timber Ridge Ski Area, in Gobles, said turnout was “somewhat light” there on Saturday, but she was also optimistic, saying conditions should provide a “very good” holiday week.

Meteorologists are predicting light snow throughout the week and cold temperatures at night — an excellent formula for ski slopes looking to attract vacation crowds.

Timber Ridge reported a base of more than 24 inches of snow, and Bailey said the tubing hill and large terrain park are expected to open soon.

“It’s cold enough at night for us to make really good snow, yet the roads are remaining clear to let people get to us,” she said.

National Weather Service meteorologist John Kowaleski predicted that 2 to 5 inches of snow will fall through Wednesday, with the possibility of a storm system hitting the region on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

Kowaleski said there is a lot of “uncertainty” with the storm system. Depending on how it tracks, Kalamazoo could see either rain or snow on Christmas Day, he said. If the system tracks through Iowa, there will be warmer air and possible rain. If it tracks through Ohio, snow is likely, he said.

“There are a lot of question marks still,” said Kowaleski, who added that the path of the system will be more obvious by Monday or Tuesday.

The Weather Service is predicting a high temperature of 33 or 34 on Christmas Day. Even if the area gets rain, Kowaleski said, “the bulk of the snow” will stay on the ground.

Other parts of the country have been hit a lot harder with snowfall. The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast were slammed by a blizzard-like storm Saturday that dropped almost 2 feet of snow in some areas. Forecasts call for up to 20 inches of snow across the East.